Ray Bradbury Born August 22 1920 in Waukegan

Ray Bradbury • Born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois • One of the most prominent American Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, and Mystery Fiction writers of the 20 th and 21 st Centuries

Ray Bradbury • Best known for his dystopian novels • Explored the human condition and commented on the human consequences of progress • Explored the human heart and would seek to flesh out the darkest parts of human nature

Famous Works Bradbury has published more than thirty books, close to 600 short stories, and numerous poems, essays and plays.

Meet Ray Bradbury If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down. Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a type of DYSTOPIC novel. That means it is about a future that is bleak, dark and dreary. The novel focuses on two central themes: 1. CENSORSHIP 2. IGNORANCE OF KNOWLEDGE Read on to discover what Fahrenheit 451 is all about…

CENSORSHIP: is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the government or media organizations as determined by a censor. (Wikipedia) Why would something be censored? What are the dangers of censorship?

IGNORANCE OF KNOWLEDGE: Bradbury focuses on the importance of learning and how it impacts our ability to make decisions. He believes that without the ability to think about what we’re doing, we’ll be led to do wrong.

The novel was written by Ray Bradbury, a celebrated science fiction writer. It began as a short story in 1951 and evolved into a novel by 1953. The novel was written at a time when the world was threatened by nuclear war, new technologies were emerging and the world was getting smaller. Read on to discover what Fahrenheit 451 is all about…

Censorship is the practice of keeping material from being viewed by others because of objectionable or offensive material. Now here is some irony: Fahrenheit 451 is a book about the dangers of censorship. Yet this book itself has been the object of censorship. It has been banned and/or challenged in many places across the United States.

Why might other books or types of media be censored? What does it mean for a book to be banned or challenged? It means that somebody was offended by something in the book and demanded that it be removed from shelves in libraries, bookstores, etc.

The novel was inspired by real life events that impacted the author’s life: ”Mc. Carthyism” – Fear of Communism 1950 s lifestyle Cold War

TIMELINE OF THE 1950 s 1950 President Harry Truman approves production of the hydrogen bomb. 1951 Television first broadcast across the country. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted and sentenced to death for passing information on atomic weapons to the USSR.

TIMELINE OF THE 1950 s 1952 Fashion, people and society is very conservative. People are generally respectful of each other, the government, religion and life. 1954 The U. S. Supreme Court wrote in “Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas” that racial segregation in schools was illegal.

TIMELINE OF THE 1950 s 1954 U. S. Senator Joseph Mc. Carthy begins a televised anti-communist witch-hunt. This became known as “Mc. Carthyism”. Basically, the Cold War revolved around the fact that: The USA was a Democratic country where people could do what they want, become rich and have freedoms. The Soviet Republic (USSR) was Communist, which meant people listened to the government, lived equally and shared resources. The United States declared Communist countries to be enemies. The US government wanted everyone to think Communists were evil so they spread around hate propaganda. Mc. Carthy accused random people he didn’t like of being Communists, which basically ruined their lives.

TIMELINE OF THE 1950 s 1956 Elvis Presley took the music world by storm with five #1 songs on the Billboard Music Chart. Robert Noyce and Jack Kilby invent the microchip. The first enclosed mall called Southdale opened in Edina, Minnesota 1957 First British H-bomb exploded at Christmas Island. First underground nuclear test “Rainier” occurred at the Nevada Test Site. Britain’s first truly successful thermonuclear bomb test. The Soviet Union Launches the Sputnik, the first artificial satellite.

THE WORLD WAS GOING CRAZY…. As the 1950 s and the Cold War progressed Ray Bradbury saw the government taking a great deal of power over the people and this worried him. How could a government with too much power be dangerous? Ray Bradbury saw the world changing quickly and dangerously so this is why he wrote Fahrenheit 451 – to warn people of what would happen if society continued down what he believed was a dangerous path….

Why Censor?

Who Censors? l l l l l Legislators (local, state, federal) Members of review boards of any kind (school boards) Clergy (priests, ministers, etc. ) School administrators Teachers Librarians Parents Theaters Book stores Television Studios

Censorship on the Rise l l Between the years of 1979 and 1984 (5 years), the number of reported challenges went from 300 to 1, 000. Such works as: Romeo and Juliet l Hamlet l Judy Blume books: Then Again; Maybe I Won’t; Deenie and Blubber l The Diary of Anne Frank l Of Mice and Men l The Catcher in the Rye l Huckleberry Finn l An issue of Sports Illustrated *Some copies of these particular books showed up in libraries torn to shreds. l

Censorship on the Rise l Between the years of 1990 -2000, 6, 364 texts were challenged. l 1, 607 – sexually explicit material l 1, 427 – inappropriate language l 842 – occult theme; promoting occult or Satanism l 737 – Violent material l 515 – homosexual reference l 419 – religious themes

The First Amendment l …the basic right to freedom of expression. Congress Shall Make No Law… “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assembly, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. ”

Upon formation of the Bill of Rights l Thomas Jefferson states, “The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them. ”

Interpreting the First Amendment Supreme Court holds responsibility of interpreting the First Amendment. l 1791 – Court heard cases of freedom of speech, freedom of press, and issues of libel and slander, national security, and obscenity. l

Why not to Censor…

If all books were banned, or even destroyed for their content, what information or culture would be lost for future generations? Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451. “It was a pleasure to burn. ” l Bradbury: “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get them to stop reading. ” l Knowledge is power. l